The Godling
by GreekOlives25
Summary: Eurydice Dawson is a young teenager. She hardly thought she was anything more than the average 9th grade weirdo. That is, until her sister goes missing. And strange monsters start coming out of the forest. Or when she meets the Olympian gods and Percy J.
1. Realities Differ

Chapter One

Realities Differ

Eurydice Dawson had always known that she wasn't normal. For starters, she had jet black hair and pure silver eyes that were flecked with white and grey like a winter storm. Secondly, she had been born in Salem, Massachusetts while her parents had been vacationing there. Or so they told her. Most of the other kids her age avoided her for that reason, saying that she was a witch.

Eurydice believed it at times, too. Once when a boy named Frankie pushed her off the monkey bars in first grade she gave him the Evil Eye and the next day the school got a phone call saying that Frankie had fallen down a flight of stairs and broken his leg. Many other strange things had happened since then, most of them benevolent.

Sometimes when Eurydice would sit down by the ocean she would see things with long scaly tails that carried tridents-but dismissing them as wild hallucinations-she mentioned them to no one. During her midnight watering, she could here the creatures singing entrancing, sorrowful melodies. Yet, the water always seemed so inviting to her, so comforting despite the creatures' presences. Eurydice and her older sister had often spent all day swimming in the summer, occasionally catching glimpses of the fish creatures.

On a darker note, whenever Eurydice ventured to the town cemetery she could see ghosts and translucent wraiths and they whispered to her, telling her things. Usually it was just gibberish, such as one woman from the nineteenth century era who had been hysterically muttering, "I left the pie to cool on the window sill!"

She didn't dare mention the ghosts to her parents, knowing that it'd land her a private room in a psycho ward. Considering that her parents already somewhat doubted her mental health, she wasn't going to take any risks by giving them proof enough to ship her to the loony bin. Besides, she herself wasn't entirely sure that the ghosts weren't just hallucination brought on by lack of energy or something along those lines.

Eurydice wasn't a morning person, adding on to her lack of sleep and weird resting patterns. She was known to get up and go on walks through the woods during the darkness of twilight. Lately it had been harder for her to sleep. Her mind was far too stirred up to relax. The walks she took only 'confirmed' her peers' accusations of her being a witch on her way to gather herbs for potions.

One of the strangest happenings in Eurydice's already strange life happened a year ago when the Dawson family had been traveling to London by plane. A bolt of lightning struck the plane during a thunderstorm. As the plane had plummeted towards the ground-babies crying while their mothers screamed, elderly couples muttering prayers, relatives calling out to each other-Eurydice saw something reach out to their plane through the black storm clouds.

Immediately, the plane had righted itself and stopped falling in its tracks. When they got through the turbulence and landed at the airport, the only evidence of the ordeal was the scorch marks found on the left wing where the lightning had struck the metal. The near tragedy had been a subject of investigation for quite a few months.

Eurydice lived in Berrington, Maine. It was rather far south, being not too far away from New Hampshire. Berrington was a rather sleepy town, close to the ocean. Her house was surrounded by forest and stood on a cliff overlooking the calm sea. Eurydice would commonly dive off the cliff into the ocean, not too far below.

Berrington looked like one of those autumn postcards of the northeast coast. It was dotted with forests, all the homes Victorian with little front porches and gingerbread trimming. The town church was white with a tall steeple and the town commons was made up by old fashioned cafes and gift shops. The town itself was located on a cliff over the ocean just like Eurydice's home, attracting many tourists each year for the annual Lobster Festival that the locals held.

There had never been any crimes or drug abuse in the area, and it was about a six hour drive to New York. The previous summer the Dawson family had vacationed in New York and its activity had made Berrington look like a graveyard. Come to think of it, nothing exciting ever really happened in Berrington and it _was_ quite like a cemetery, only much friendlier and more welcoming.

Still, Eurydice loved it in Berrington. That was, until strange things started happening to her. Eurydice had an older sister named Electra. Electra looked much like her little sister, only with short and punk black hair and startlingly blue eyes. Electra had always been an oddball, having ADHD and being a huge daredevil—willing to jump off a roof for a quarter. Then-a month ago-Electra had disappeared on the day of her sixteenth birthday.

At first the Dawson family thought that Electra had just run off with some boy who she had become friends with named Ashton Roberts. The Dawson family had known Ashton fairly well and knew that he and Electra were likely to do something like that and somewhat dismissed the matter, until she didn't come home. And when strange things started appearing in the woods.

Just a week ago Eurydice had been walking through the woods like she usually did, looking up at the changing autumn leaves. Her parents were back at the house, most likely talking with the police who were still searching for her sister.

Eurydice's hands shook as she walked, shoulders trembling. Her mental resolve had always been very strong. She put up with her peers taunts everyday, the sting of their insults never cutting through her tough outer skin. But since Electra—her best friend and sister—had left her, her strength was slowly beginning to flake away, revealing the lonely and vulnerable girl beneath.

Suddenly, the forest became all to quiet. The birds stopped singing. There were no squirrels scampering through the overhead branches. Eurydice felt eyes bearing into her back, watching her. Uneasy, she raised her gaze from the path to the forest around her.

Then, out of nowhere a giant black dog leaped out of the bushes, knocking her to the ground. Its paws alone could crush bony Eurydice and its breath smelt of a thousand corpses. Its growl had shaken the ground and Eurydice couldn't even scream, only stare into its red eyes in horror.

Searing hot globs of spit landed on Eurydice's face and chest as the beast growled, putrid steam exiting its mouth. Just when she was sure it was going to bite off her head and finish her, a bolt of lightning struck the beast in the back.

It yelped and Eurydice had jumped to her feet, running only a few yards before the beast saw her and struck her in the back with its claws. With a cry of pain, she had crumpled to the ground, three deep gashes on her back. Her flesh felt as if someone were jabbing carving knifes into her spine and thousands of glass shards were being shoved into her.

The dog limped back over to her, the air filled with the smell of burning fur and crackling with electricity. Where the lightning had struck the animal it had left a blistering, oozing patch of skin. The beast was easily six feet tall and the branches above its head were snapped and splintered, charred black from the lightning bolt.

Eurydice stifled a frightened sob as the dog opened its gaping maw, preparing to engulf her. Eurydice never cried, but now she felt a single, icy tear race down her cheek. The dog's stinking, hot breath blew her hair straight out behind her and the stench burned her eyes. Its yellow teeth inches from her face, Eurydice knew that this time no one would save her.

Overhead, the sky grew dark and thunder rumbled. The pain in Eurydice's back was unbearable, and she found herself almost accepting a quick death. A heavy rain began to fall and the wind howled. The beast growled and snapped its jaws, its red eyes looking into Eurydice's. It claws were sinking into her skin, slowly tearing her flesh.  
Then, growling, it opened its mouth for a final, fatal bite. Its jaws moved at one hundred miles per hour, and before Eurydice could realize what happened, another lightning bolt whizzed past her face, striking the beast directly inside the mouth, propelling it backwards. The beast yipped and whimpered wildly, flames engulfing its body, and then with a poof, evaporated into dust.

Realizing with a wild joy that she was alive, Eurydice leaped to her feet out of shock, but once again fell to the ground as the pain in her back raced through her like a red hot poker. Lying on the ground, she thought, _I was saved by a random bolt of lightning twice for nothing. My back is shredded and I can't walk. By the time someone finds me, I would've bled out. I'm going to die out here. Alone. Forgotten. _

As she lay on the ground, rain drenching her, she began to realize slowly that she didn't want to die here. She couldn't die now. She had to find Electra. She had to live to find out what had become of her beloved sister.

As her crimson blood flowed across the fallen leaves, darkness began to overtake Eurydice. She was so cold and tired. Surely a nap wouldn't hurt. With a start, she thought, _No, can't close eyes. Have to live. Have to live..._

Her eyes began to shut and Eurydice fought back, helplessly. Looking through the falling rain which created a hazy gray sheet, she swore she saw her sister Electra standing among the trees, holding a sword and shouting something to two boys who stood beside her. Then darkness took her.

When Eurydice had awakened three days later she was in the hospital and there was no sign of her sister or the giant dog that had attacked her. The surgeons were puzzled by what had attacked her, finally blaming it on a pit-bull judging by how deep the wounds were. She had gotten blood transfusions, stitches, IVs, and been forced to stay in the hospital for three more days. Eurydice had told the officials what had happened, but they didn't believe her. They said that she was just in shock, which she had to admit was probably true.

The attack had happened last Friday, and now on Eurydice's first day home from the hospital, she found herself gazing out her bedroom window to the spot in the woods where she'd been attacked.

Her Greek immigrant mother and American father, Mina and Spencer, had told her that they found her what they thought was about a half hour after the attack, half dead from hypothermia and blood loss. She had been deep in the woods and as soon her parents noticed that she wasn't in her room and that it had suddenly started storming, they had raced outside to look for her.

Eurydice sighed and looked at the stitches on her shoulders and back in her mirror. They looked like Frankenstein's. Her mother always called Eurydice a beautiful and gifted child, and truth be told, she was in a rather different way. Over that past few days she had hardened and darkened her old self fading into the background.

She studied her reflection. She was olive skinned like her mother and sister, although currently after her wounds she was pale. Eurydice was thin, which she had been since birth. Her glossy, raven black hair fell past her shoulders in soft curls, although a small chunk of hair was missing from the attack. Her icy silver eyes were serious and cautious, sunken into her skull and lined with dark shadows from worry and lack of sleep.

A slash on her cheek from her attack marred her, leaving a maroon scab that ran all the way to her jaw. Her left pointer finger was crooked from an old accident when she'd been learning to ride a bike nine years ago. A few old scars dotted her face from various falls and there was a cut on her bottom lip.

A few weeks before, Eurydice would have been spotted with a crooked smile. She'd gotten lucky and been born with white teeth, but one of her front teeth stuck out just slightly from the rest, just like her sister's. She typically had marker scribbles on her hands and a string or rubber band around her wrist.

Eurydice didn't look exactly like the prankster that she typically was. She looked like some supreme deity, someone of power and reason. Electra at least looked like the daredevil that she was, with her mischievous smile that rarely left her face. Eury on the other hand could be grinning, frowning, or laughing depending on her sometimes unpredictable mood.

Sitting down on her bed, she stared at the ceiling. She hadn't always been so quiet. She and her sister Electra were both tricksters with bright personalities that everyone who knew them enjoyed. Not to mention, Eurydice was a real smart alack. Not anymore, though. For the last month, she had withdrawn to her room, playing her drum-set or electric guitar by herself. Still on its stand, Electra's bass guitar looked like it was just waiting to be played.  
She and Electra may have both been attractive, but they were a preppy girl's worst nightmare. They both typically only wore band t-shirts or zip-up sweatshirts with jeans. While they may have been friendly pranksters, they typically only spoke to fellow loners and drifters like themselves.

Being popular had never been one of their concerns. Eurydice's only real best friends had been her sister and at times Ashton, although she associated with others daily. Popular or unintelligent people just tended to annoy Eurydice, especially boys.

Thinking about Electra, Eurydice was surprised to feel moisture on her face. She was crying. Angrily, she wiped the tear from her face with her sleeve. Hopping up off of her soft and warm bed, she paced past her instruments and book shelves, turning at the computer desk and repeating the cycle a few times. She stopped at her window again and looked outside. She looked like a ghost in the window; pale and sad from in her yellow Victorian home. Outside the golden leaves shook in the breeze and the turquoise ocean rocked back and forth. Beyond the back porch, the forest started.

As she looked down on her yard she thought about what had happened one week ago on that very day. That beast had almost taken her life. That day the sky had been completely clear, with no sign of storms. Eurydice had decided to go for a walk after she had gotten back from the high school, trying to escape the stresses of ninth grade. And then the beast attacked her. The first lightning bolt and storm had come out of nowhere with no apparent source.

In an icy whisper, she asked to herself, "But realities differ, don't they?"


	2. The Monster Hunter

Chapter Two

The Monster Hunter

Eurydice made a weak attempt at trying to sleep, but was easily awakened when there was a knock on the door. She felt like she was in a warm cocoon, wrapped in blankets in soft pajamas. She couldn't help but lightly smile to herself. The last time someone had entered her room without knocking it had been one of her annoying older cousins and Eurydice had shot them with a volley of NERF gun bullets. Since then no one attempted to intrude. Too tired to say anything, Eurydice grunted. Lately she had resorted to Paleolithic speaking.

Her mother Mina pushed the door open, taking Eurydice's grunt as an accepted admittance. She was carrying a tray that bore an early dinner. Eurydice's mouth watered as she eyed the homemade gyros, sweet tea, and for dessert a slice of coffee cake. Mina was pure Greek and preferred to serve dishes that came from her homeland. Her traditions had given the entire home a Mediterranean feel.

Mina gently set the tray down on the nightstand next to Eurydice's bed and laid a cool, soft hand on Eurydice's forehead. Her mother's hand felt silk to the torn and snagged Eurydice. In her somewhat rich accent, Mina asked softly, "Are you feeling alright, Eury? If you feel even a little sick tell me and I'll drive you back to the hospital for another IV."

Mina had started speaking English seven or eight years ago, but the entire family still had to help her get her accent under control sometimes. Mina was very intelligent and had learned the language quickly, but still preferred for her family to read and speak Greek when they were alone. Her daughters and husband didn't mind in the least bit, Electra always saying that it made it easier to diss people. Mina had immigrated to the US about a year after Electra was born, their father having lived in Greece for a year with Mina and baby Electra.

Eurydice shook her head, bobbing her black curls which had been twisted into a wild style during her brief rest. "Not necessary, Mom. I've already had to get three different IVs." Eurydice rubbed her arm where her most recent IV had been removed the day before. The veins were still bulging.

Mina took her hand off of Eurydice's forehead, appearing satisfied with her temperature. Mina had warm, olive toned skin like both of her daughters. Her face was perfectly sculpted and unwrinkled and she had brown hair that curled down past her shoulders. It reminded Eury of a dark, chocolate waterfall. Mina's eyes were a toasty brown, full of laughter and welcoming. She was a natural beauty.

"No fever," she said. Eurydice had been plagued by horrible fevers for the last three days of her stay in the hospital. Mina traced Eurydice's eyes back to the tray of food and laughed, putting the tray on her daughter's lap. Not even a nearly fatal attack could neutralize Eury's ravenous appetite. She sat up in her bed as she hungrily attacked the meal.

Through a mouthful of gyro, Eurydice asked, "How long am I on hospital watch or death watch; whatever you call it?"

Mina handed her daughter a napkin as sour cream began to fall from the gyro. "Ya thio vthomathes," she answered in Greek.

Eurydice swallowed a slurp of tea. "What? Two whole weeks?"

Mina nodded and told Eurydice that when she finished eating that she was going to go to the store in town for groceries. She said that Eurydice's father was down stairs with the local sheriff. Eurydice nodded, the entire time engulfing the delicacies. As soon as the last crumb of coffee cake was gone, Mina left, true to her word. Eurydice lay in bed for a few more minutes, staring off into space. The world seemed to spin around her as she lay on her bed, completely motionless.

Finally when she could take the stillness no longer, she threw back her comforter and went to her closet. For the three days that she had been awake in the hospital there had been nothing more that she had wanted to do than get up and go look for evidence of whatever it was that had attacked her. Earlier that day Eurydice hadn't gotten the chance because all of her relatives had thrown her a welcoming home party and even her recently immigrated Greek grandparents had been there. Eurydice knew that there'd be no way for her to sneak away during the party.

Grabbing a thick sweatshirt and some jeans, she dressed and tied on her sneakers. She was going to go outside, no matter what her parents or doctors thought. Opening the window, she easily removed the screen and hopped through the opening onto the roof. Her room looked out right over the back porch, making it easy to get outside. Moving along slowly on the shingles, as not to pain her stitches or slip, she lowered herself down off the roof onto the porch. She landed gently and then turned towards the woods. Her sides heaving from the mere exertion and throbbing in her wounds, she closed her eyes for a moment before re-gathering her resolve.

The doctors at the hospital had given her a hearty supply of painkillers to numb the agony of her wounds. The many medications that she took daily made it possible for her to walk about the house without bawling. Biking or walking through the rough forest was another matter. Eurydice had no idea if she'd even be able to make the voyage into the forest before she gave into the pain. Chewing her bottom lip, she decided that she had to take the risk and that biking would be the better choice because it was quicker.

Grabbing her bike-which was conveniently leaning against the porch where she'd left it a week ago when she'd come home from school-she headed towards the dirt trail that would lead her into the woods. She had to know what had attacked her and planned on finding out, pain or not. She'd have time to recuperate in peace once she lifted the burden of curiosity from her mind once and for all.

Ever since the attack the forest had frightened her. She had previously thought that she knew about everything that was in these woods, but the dog monster had proved otherwise. The trees and brush around her suddenly seemed sinister and she opted to pedal quickly on her bike rather than sit around waiting to be attacked by a squirrel monster.

Moving as quickly as her injuries would allow her, she reached the site of her attack within five minutes. Leaves crunched beneath her as she leaned her bike against an old maple tree and walked over to where she had been found unconscious. Crouching, she observed the burn marks on the trees and ground that still remained where the lightning had blasted the beast dog. Its ashes had been blown away days ago, leaving nothing for Eurydice to show as evidence.

She sighed and began to walk around the site, looking for any sort of clue. Probing through the leaves around her with the toe of her sneaker, she furrowed her brow as she came across an abnormally large dog paw print buried beneath a pile of damp leaves. It was well over the size of her own footprint.

Nudging away more leaves, she found a trail of the prints leading away from the attack-or more accurately, the path that the beast had taken to get _to _the site. Looking quickly back down the trail from which she had come, she saw no one watching her and followed the tracks farther off the trail into the trees. Stopping every fifty yards to catch her breath or rub her back, she slowly but surely wound her way up a steep hill lined by thick trees. Eury had only been to this part of the forest once with her sister when they'd been looking for a good place to build a tree fort a few years ago.

The path she forged was rocky and slippery-the original path that she'd trail-blazed having become overgrown months ago-but whatever had attacked her had been so large and strong that it hadn't had a problem. All of the branches that hung over the path had been snapped in two from the mass of it. Eurydice stared up at the cloudy sky as she realized just how freakishly lucky she was for having survived the beast's attack. If it hadn't been for the lightning, she would've been on a tour of the monster's intestines at the present moment.

She stopped once she reached a grove of ash trees. Panting, she began to search for anything that would give her anymore insight on what had attacked her and her sister's possible whereabouts. Looking closer at the tracks that she'd been following, she realized that tiny indents that she had taken to be nothing more than smudges beside the beast's were human foot prints. Kneeling, she brushed a leaf away from the most distinguished one.

It was definitely human. Someone had been following the beast, more likely hunting it. Maybe that person was the one who had blasted the beast with lightning...but that was impossible. Eurydice chided herself for imagining such a thing. She hallucinated things like ghosts and merfolk daily and now she was imagining lightning-wielding-super-humans. But, Eurydice decided that anything was possible since she had almost become Kibble for a dog version of King Kong.

Looking even closer just for good reference, she saw that there was a star in the middle of the print. Electra wore boots with a star on the bottom. Eury herself had given them to her as a Christmas gift the previous year. Eurydice's eyes widened as she noticed two more sets of prints next to the star ones. The prints to the left side were swirly, and Eurydice knew for a fact that Ashton's shoeprints looked like that because her sister had been the one to give him that pair of shoes. The prints to the right were completely alien and unfamiliar to Eury.

The mysteries of her attack and her sister's disappearance began to unravel as Eurydice began to piece hypothesizes together. She now knew that Ashton was traveling with Electra, along with a stranger that Eurydice did not know. She also knew that the monster had been real, and not the beginning of her spiral towards insanity.

There was something red on the leaves near her feet. Just by looking Eurydice could tell that it was dried blood and it was too far away from the site of her attack to belong to her. Either Electra, the stranger, or Ashton was hurt-and judging by what they appeared to be doing-they were in trouble. One blow from the dog could have ripped a limb off.

If Electra and Ashton and the new guy were the ones chasing mythical beasts and one of them was hurt, they'd all end up dead. Electra was held in high regards for her skill in fencing, wrestling, and sprinting and Ashton for the same plus rugby, but in those sports you were only facing teenagers and you had a referee standing by to keep you from killing or being killed. They'd get no such mercy from the elements and monsters. Eurydice could feel in her bones that they were in trouble.

With a start, she got up and leaned against a nearby tree, tying everything together in her mind. Medication, self doubt, lack of sleep, and scientific theory began to weigh in on her thoughts, causing her head to throb as she doubted every thought she had and then doubted _those_ doubts.

Clutching her head, she thought, _Electra has been off chasing monsters with Ashton. I always knew that Electra was a daredevil and liked thunderstorms, but would she really be able to cause a bolt of lightning to strike a giant dog four times her size? How would she know that I was in trouble? Or is it Ashton or the stranger who has the lightning powers? Or was it just an unexplainable act of nature and the three have nothing to do with it and were eaten by the beast? _Eurydice's mind brooded with questions as she raced back to her bike and hurried to her house.

All around her the forest seemed to be teeming with mysteries, voices, and danger. There were so many things that she didn't know and was just assuming. There was no way of telling if the prints _really _belonged to who she thought. They really might be on the other side of the country, running off to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. The dog might've been some laboratory experiment that had gotten loose and the prints belonged to scientists and SWAT agents who were tracking it down. She forced herself to push all of these thoughts aside as she approached her house.

Quietly sneaking through the back door, Eury scurried upstairs to her room, her father not noticing her as he argued with the sheriff. Collapsing onto her bed, Eury tried to review what she knew. She _knew _that she had found the prints of a large dog that led towards her attack site. She _knew _that she had found three human prints following the dogs, two of them familiar to her. She _knew _that the humans had been following the dog, but not _why. _She _knew _that while she'd found prints leading _to _her attack, she hadn't yet found any leading _away _from it. She _knew _that she'd been attacked, but not by what. Eurydice decided that her main objective should be to identify what had attacked her before she attempted anything else.

Her sister might be in trouble and Eurydice was going to help her, injured or not. Eurydice could not yet decide if she'd found her sister's prints or not and hoped that a good night's sleep would give her the answer. Her fatal flaw was her thick headedness, and when it came to her family she'd stop at nothing to help them. Eurydice decided at that moment that after she got some rest and her instincts answered her questions, she'd set off to look for the tracks that led away from her attack.

Eurydice had gone hunting with her father and knew how to track. It wouldn't be hard at all for her to track her sister's-or anonymous people-tracks, since the thick canopy of the woods had salvaged most of the tracks from the rain, and the leaves had shielded them from smudging. Pulling out a large hiking backpack, she began shoving in the supplies she believed she'd need for the next day's venture.

It was insane-she knew-going after monsters that she didn't really believe in and a sister that she might just be imagining that was hunting them, but if her instincts told her that that was a fact, she'd do it. At the moment lack of sleep and medication were clouding her judgment.

She grabbed three changes of clothes-mostly sweatshirts and jeans-from her closet and shoved them into the bag, along with her prescribed painkillers and other medications. Remembering what Maine weather was like in autumn, she also snatched a rain poncho, hat, and thick socks and gloves from a drawer and dropped them in the bag. Deciding that she'd smuggle some money and food the next day, she then concentrated her focus on finding out what had attacked her. Eurydice knew a lot of Greek mythology from her mother's heritage, but giant dog monsters escaped her knowledge.

Sitting down in her computer chair, she searched 'giant dog monsters' on the Internet. Multiple results popped up on the computer screen. Curiously, she selected one that said 'Hellhounds: Greek monsters.' Quickly scanning through the wordy article, she found the description of hellhounds to be exactly like the creature that had attacked her. Rubbing her scratched back, she thought, _Sharp claws; check. Abnormally large; check. Escapes scientific knowledge and proof: check. Very aggressive; definitely check. _

Turning off the computer, she muttered, "According to all the scientists, hellhounds don't exist. According to me-a chew toy for one-they are. Not to mention for my sister who never told me that she was hunting monsters."


End file.
